The Hills' slut, Heidi Montag, has come out as a staunch supporter of Senator John McCain for Prez. While this has shocked (shocked!) Hollywood to its core, and some are saying it's an inside job, any refugee familiar with Laguna Beach (or Laguna Beach) wouldn't be surprised....

Muni issued an alert yesterday afternoon that said simply, "Emergency - Powell line cable cars back in service." Oh no! Emergency! Cable cars unleashed on an unsuspecting public! Save yourselves! Run for the hills! Oh no wait -- the hills are exactly where the cable cars WANT you to run! Okay, okay, we jest. Obviously it's just a poor choice of words, not real peril. We can't begin to guess why someone thought that......

Got that parapluie? The Chron reports that the skies are going to open up starting tomorrow, with not one, not two, but three separate weather systems barreling on in from Alaska. They're expecting 2-4 inches of rain in the city, possibly up to 8 inches in the hills, and a "paralyzing" amount of snow in the Sierras. There's also the possibility of flooding, so if your house is prone to it, pick up some......

Let's face it, underneath all of our progressive thinking and alleged altruism, we're a vain city. Thank God. After all, we are Californians nestled in a land of impossible waistlines and beauty. That said, is the above image what the double decker buses will look like? (Minus the tasteful Las Vegas backdrop, of course.) Hmm, we really didn't think this through. We thought that we'd be seeing ever so charming red double decker buses......

We caught Phil Setzer, the violinist for the Emerson String Quartet, being driven down between performances in Santa Barbara and Orange County. We hope it was in a stretch limo, as these guys have won eight Grammy awards and critical acclaim everywhere they go. They are the only chamber music group to ever win a best classical album grammy, and they even got two. So they better travel like the rock stars they are. They'll......

We were coming back from our Labor Day we're-outta-here yesterday and saw this over the hills to the north. It was big enough that we turned on the radio to make sure that nobody had bombed downtown San Jose. No terrorists here, but the Lick Fire is plenty scary on its own. Good luck to the firefighters who are trying to contain this beast.......

As we only learned from reading the comments on our whiny post about the weather, there was just an earthquake in Berkeley about 30 minutes ago. It was a 3.0, centered near Claremont Ave. in the hills. That other quake yesterday was in Berkeley too. We didn't feel a thing (we never feel earthquakes unless something starts rumbling), but if you did, you can report it here.......

The way Wired's Noah Shachtman sees things struck us as astonishingly clear and pragmatic in reference to the Lawrence Livermore lab's partnership with Texas A&M....

Potrero Hill, Connecticut and 18th Street/Image credit: Tien Chiu While not nearly as worrisome as this type of beached creature, we came across this image that helps prove why limousines and the hills of SF don't always mix. For this and more instances of such sad occurrences, go here.......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

San Francisco unveiled some shiny new plan to win back the affections of the Niners yesterday. The plan includes a redevelopment of Candlestick Point and Hunters Point and features a new stadium for the Niners, lots of parks, lots of housing, office space and a new arena. Best part? Supposedly the plan means no money down for the city. So far, there is no truth to the rumors that the plan also includes lots of shiny, pretty ponies for everybody to have. ...

Get ready to go down a transit rabbit hole. Last time we wrote about the crapfest that is 511.org, one of our commenters placed blame on military contractors. So we dusted off our Encyclopedia Brown magnifying glass to see just what's behind one of the noisiest, user-unfriendliest, pedestrian-discouragingest, bicyclist-overlookingest websites in town. The short answer: our local 511.org (just like five-elevens all over the country) is largely a project of the highway industry and, yes,......

Lucky in the Loin SF legend, Mr. Lucky appears at The Clap doing a live reading of Weekend Hippie at a night of movies and performances at Aunt Charlie's Mini-Discotheque (133 Turk at Taylor). Movies by Dave (Dog) Swan, including the trailer for Shackgirl, which sounds like a cross between The Hills Have Eyes and Lolita, plus clips from Dog Swan's legendary cable access show from late 80's early 90's The Doghouse, which featured appearances......

Mountain biking is a grass-roots sport that is only about one bake sale above your local group ride in terms of publicity and prestige, but it is an exciting sport that requires intense fitness, training, and dedication. At SFist, we understand the sport and the culture around it. We also understand what makes a good mountain bike race. To that end, we've reviewed the 2007 MTB racing season in order to provide our readers with a summary of this year's most interesting Northern California events.

So grab your bike, sharpen your elbows, and strap on a number plate for some challenging dirt action, or pack up the camp chairs, the cooler, and the kids, and head out to the races for a cheap day of fun and entertainment. Even if you aren't interested in competing, check out some of these events. You will see amazing feats of cycling prowess, discover the latest in space-age materials and designs, and probably pick up an armful of free posters, stickers, and other industry schwag.

We finally got around to watching MTV's "I'm From Rolling Stone", the Almost Famous-meets-The Hills-meets-The Apprentice reality show about six twenty somethings who get "the internship of a lifetime": a summer associate position at Rolling Stone. One lucky hopeful will win a year-long contributing editor position. Um, does anybody still read Rolling Stone? ...

Yes, tonight is the State of the Union speech which means it's a good time to do something that doesn't involve watching TV. But to help you survive tonight, here is the Official SFist Care Package. First up is a parody of last year's speech. Yes, it's a year old (which is why there's a fat guy sitting behind the President when tonight there'll be our Little Nancy) but we never saw it and......

We won't say the Democrats are confident right now, but we hear Nancy Pelosi is already asking her staff to refer to her only as Madame Speaker, Ms. Speaker if you're nasty. Democrats are so confident these days that Kos himself weighed in yesterday to say that everyone is getting too confident. Hell, Democrats are so confident these days that they're starting to wonder if Nancy being in charge is really such a great idea. ...

As Emily Litella would say, what is this we keep hearing about problems with the Crab Commission? Who doesn't love crabs? They're yummy and healthy, especially when you dip them in butter? Oh wait, it's Cab Commission. Not Crab Commission. Nevermind. So, then what is it we keep hearing about the SF Cab Commission? Why has this usually obscure governmental backwater suddenly become the latest source of gossip, intrigue, and petty name-calling? ...

"Your city sucks," said the two guys presenting Cock Byte: Masters of Machinima. The Austin natives were unprepared for the gruelling uphill walk to the Kabuki -- apparantly our topography is a well-kept secret outside of the bay area. Fair enough, though; the hills do suck sometimes. But not as bad as the title of their movie, which, um, why was it called that anyway? It was really just an hour-long edit of the first......

On Sunday, the Governator was rushed to the hospital after a motorcycle accident in Brentwood. Everyone involved is okay, but the Governor now has himself a big, fat lip and fifteen stitches. What happened is that Arnie was riding along Brentwood in his Harley-Davidson with his son Patrick in the sidecar when a neighbor in a SUV (oh, wouldn't it have been awesome if it was a Hummer?) pulled out of their driveway and didn't see the motorcycle. After the collision, Arnie got up from the motorcycle and blasted the SUV with a machine gun, causing a huge fireball to explode over the hills. Afterwards, all involved said the accident was just an accident and no charges have been filed. If we were the dude who caused the accident, though, we'd totally be careful what we'd say over the phone. No word on whether Arnie used his accident to try and bond with wounded soldiers back from Iraq like a certain President we know. ...

A reader of SFist Answers writes in anonymously: This year, I'm celebrating my last under-21 New Years Eve. What fun things can the local twenty year old chick do to bring in the new year with her friends? In response to the obvious answer, sadly none of us have fake ids, so that's out the window. Have fun answering that one, cause it's a doozie. Well, anonymous reader, would it help if we told......

When the A's left the Bay Area for nine games against Tampa Bay and Cleveland, we at A's Brand Baseball wrote: Such a break from major league competition could be just what the doctor ordered . . . We were right, too: those games against the A's really helped out the Devil Rays and Indians. Until Monday night's 11-inning comeback win over Tampa Bay, the A's had lost 9 games in a row; it......

For all those SFist readers feeling blue about today being Valentine's Day, cheer up little buckaroos because you're not alone. Turns out, there's a lot more out there than you think. According to some study, San Francisco ranks as the 38th best city for singles between 18-24. That's only one better than our brethren to the South in San Jose and two better than Sacto, but eight spots below Fresno (Fresno!). And in something that......

A teacher at Palo Alto's Gunn High School has been suspended after letting students drink at his/her (the aide has not been named) New Year's Eve party. The cops found out about it when one of the kids drove his car into a tree (the kid was fine). The school is tut-tutting about the fact that the kid in question had just last year been in a school skit about the perils of drunk driving. That former Oakland Raider who fired shots into Siegfried and Roy's house, Cole Ford, has been found incompetent to stand trial because of his schizophrenia and will be sent to a mental hospital. Ford claims he's completely sane and says that the doctors in Nevada can't evaluate him properly because of Nevada's "gambling culture." Ford also refuses to take any medication. And Calvin Cat, a San Jose DMV instructor, has denied charges that he groped 14 teenage girls trying to get their drivers' licenses in Redwood City. He's alleged to have asked them to drive into the hills, have them attempt difficult driving manuevers, and then attack them while pretending to console them for not being able to do reverse three point turns. Parallel parking is bad enough. ...

[Be sure to check out the coverage of Los Santos on LAist!] We loved the last Grand Theft Auto, Vice City. The eighties music and cars, the neon glow of faux deco, the massive amounts of senseless violence, simulated sex and cocaine references. We knew that the only way they could top it would be to move it to city a little more conducive to quality car chases, and they have - it's called San......

There are video games that are popular with gamers - Counter Strike, Half-Life, Halo - and then there are video games that become cultural phenomena. The audience is drawn not so much by the game itself as to the world or story that the game describes. Who can forget the comic carnage of Mortal Kombat? The crossing of the gender gap by Ms. Pac-Man and Ladybug? The legions of fans of all ages who would......

It's hump day, which means it's time to start planning that trip out of the city this weekend. Last weekend, SFist had a car, so we decided to take a trip across the monument to design and engineering that is the Golden Gate Bridge, destination: Marin Headlands. Traffic was a pain getting up Van Ness to Lombard, but after that it was smooth sailing. If you don't have a car, you can make the trip on a bike, too - the entire round trip was only thirty two miles!...